Door Thermostats With PLC

[Buzzie8]

I need to replace my automatic door thermostats because their margin of error is much greater than the election polls (possibly as high as 10 degrees). They are mechanical thermostats and I want to replace with digital but also want the ability to monitor from security camera system from home and open and close from home. Anybody done this?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I need to replace my automatic door thermostats because their margin of error is much greater than the election polls (possibly as high as 10 degrees). They are mechanical thermostats and I want to replace with digital but also want the ability to monitor from security camera system from home and open and close from home. Anybody done this?

I think you will be really happy with some of the solutions that Control By Web has. I know BigLeo is using a few of them. Should work just like you need them to.

 

[mjwalsh]

I need to replace my automatic door thermostats because their margin of error is much greater than the election polls (possibly as high as 10 degrees). They are mechanical thermostats and I want to replace with digital but also want the ability to monitor from security camera system from home and open and close from home. Anybody done this?

Buzzie,

I don't think there is one solution for within a camera control system but a separate program from an ethernet ported PLC would allow a separate window & program to be running simultaneously.

I think you will be really happy with some of the solutions that Control By Web has. I know BigLeo is using a few of them. Should work just like you need them to.

Bubbles, BigLeo & others,

I had a guy recently ask me if there was an easy way to also control an overhead door over the internet. Has anyone explored the switching mechanism within some overhead door brands that would allow a relay solution such as "Control by Web" ?

mike

 

[pitzerwm]

Logmein, and remote control will allow you to "talk to your computer" so you could control whatever you wanted that way. Pluse there a lot of "things" that you can control with your phone.

 

[washnvac]

I control my doors with the relay ports on the dvrs from Rugged CCTV.

 

[bigleo48]

Bubbles, BigLeo & others,

I had a guy recently ask me if there was an easy way to also control an overhead door over the internet. Has anyone explored the switching mechanism within some overhead door brands that would allow a relay solution such as "Control by Web" ?

Mike,

You can do it so many different ways. I control mine through PDQ M5, but I could also use "Control by Web" stuff or even my DVR as i have the I/O board option. I can use my smartphone on all three.

To me, simply controlling them is not enough. I don't want to manage them, so I have them on a schedule and in the winter if a door doesn't close and the bay gets close to freezing, I get an SMS to my phone alerting me of the problem.

 

[mjwalsh]

Mike,

You can do it so many different ways. I control mine through PDQ M5, but I could also use "Control by Web" stuff or even my DVR as i have the I/O board option. I can use my smartphone on all three.

To me, simply controlling them is not enough. I don't want to manage them, so I have them on a schedule and in the winter if a door doesn't close and the bay gets close to freezing, I get an SMS to my phone alerting me of the problem.

Bigleo & Washvac,

The guy was asking about adapting common garage door openers such as Genie, Liftmaster, Stanley, Multicode, Allstar, Carper, Skylink, and Sears Craftsman. What specific wires would a person tap into on these types of door openers?

mike

 

[pitzerwm]

On house/all garage door openers there is two "tabs/screws" where you can attach a push button switch to open it, just add relay contacts there, figure out how to activate the relay, that it.

 

[Buzzie8]

Thanks all for your responses. I had this digital thermostat laying around so I decided replacing my mechanical thermostat with it woud be a good start.
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/cont.../temperature/electronic2/a419singlestage.html
I can monitor the doors with my existing camera system and I do not need the security to be integrated with the remote open/close feature.

I need to find out if my existing mechanical thermostat is using a 24V or 120V signal to my doors. I also need to know if I should wire my digital thermostat as NO or NC. After I get this wired I am going to see if I can use some X10 technology or something from controlfromweb.com to see if I can also open and close from home.

 

[Buzzie8]

Just ordered this from controlbyweb.com:

http://www.controlbyweb.com/temperature/

Also, ordered an extra temp probe for my second bay. After talking to tech, I think it will do everything I need including emailing me if the temp falls below freezing (or whatever I set it to). Hopefully the wiring will be easy. On the outputs I am assuming I take the three wires from my mechanical thermostat and one will be a common and the two others will be for open and close. This was the only question the tech could not answer at controlbyweb. He said that some manipulating might be necessary and that his module is only a switch. Isn't a thermostat only a switch? Anyway, I feel confident I can figure it out.

 

[Buzzie8]

Just got the controlbyweb.com thermostat controller today. It is awesome so far. Need to wire the relay tomorrow got it networked today. I'm not sure if the mechanical thermostat pulses or just closes the switch for my Ultimate Doors to go up and down. Also, I think it just sends a signal to my Jim Coleman water wizard and then that signals doors. Any input on how a old mechanical Honeywell thermostat works would be helpful. The relay can be set to to off, on, pulse, on both high temp and low temp alarms/signals.

 

[2Biz]

If its similar to this one, its a simple switch that either opens or closes at set point. Most have contact ratings of 30a so it can switch a hefty load...

http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-2NNR7-...8&qid=1352994065&sr=8-1&keywords=Dayton+2NNR7

 

[mjwalsh]

Any input on how a old mechanical Honeywell thermostat works would be helpful..

Buzzie,

I see a potential weakness in those old style thermostats & that is the inability to set the differential range more precisely.

mike

 

[MEP001]

I see a potential weakness in those old style thermostats & that is the inability to set the differential range more precisely.

They do have a mechanical thermostat that will adjust accurately to a temperature differential of only two degrees.

 

[2Biz]

I have the T-Stat (I linked to) attached to the heat tape in my trough. I don't like it because it has a +/-3° sensitivity which I thought would be close enough. When my truck bay froze two nights ago, the heat tape hadn't kicked @ 26° out and the set point was 32°. Manually checking cutin and cutout has about a 6-8° swing...Not close enough...I'm switching it over this weekend to run off a relay attached to the secondary output of my weepmizer...Much more accurate.

Maybe you could do the same?

 

[kyokonitori88]

Mechanical thermostat are easy to use but I think you need to chance a brand for that.